Volume 8: Artistic research and practice-as-research in the field of music theatre

Closing date: 1st November 2017

In the Anglo-Saxon world, Artistic Research and practice-as-research are established as veritable fields of research or research methodology whereas it is still barely touched and even partly rejected in the German-speaking scientific community. Reenactment research, which is often restricted to historical or historically-informed performance practice, is also relevant in this context and it can offer promising approaches. The research institute for music theatre (fimt) of the University of Bayreuth plans a research focus at this interface between theory and practice during the next years. While practice-as-research seems to be relevant to scientific questions focusing on art, artistic research might be useful for theatre, music and art-sciences strategies for other disciplines (such as philosophy, political science, psychology and sociology). In a new volume of the online magazine Act, we focus on the possibilities of artistic research and practice-as-research for theatre and musicology in general and specifically for the music theatre studies and music theatre practice in particular, as well as the theoretical implications and application-related practical examples. The fimt defines music theatre as a research field of various disciplines such as musicology, opera studies, performance studies, theatre studies, institutional research, architectural history, art history, philosophy, political history and gender studies. Therefore there is a special interest in the transdisciplinary exploration of knowledge-oriented methods.

Possible contributions concern the following aspects:

Methodology of Artistic Research and practice-as-research in the context of musical theatre

History of Artistic Research and practice-as-research in the context of musical theatre

Opportunities and challenges in cooperation between theory and practice

Scientific-theoretical questions: How much practice can be tolerated in science?

Artistic Research as a stimulus for contemporary musical theatre

Reenactment theory and practice in the context of musical theatre

Reports of projects already undertaken in the area of artistic research and practice-as-research in the context of musical theatre

We would like to invite all authors, who are interested in the topic, to send us their abstracts.

We accept contributions in German and English.

About the magazine

The research institute for music theatre in Thurnau (fimt) launched the electronic magazine Act - Zeitschrift für Musik & Performance, an international and interdisciplinary public, in order to provide a platform for essays, reviews and columns at the intersections of musicology, theatre, dance and media studies. Act attaches particular importance to the diversity of methods and the promotion of young scholars. The essays proposed are subject to a fully anonymous peer review procedure. Act is an open access magazine and free of charge for both authors and readers. The contributions are made freely available as Internet and print version and archived on document servers.

The following editions have been realized so far:

Heft 1: free

Heft 2: Musik spielen – Computerspiele und Musik / Playing Music – Video Games and Music